Proclaiming the Light.

Luke

So that you may believe. • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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LAST week we started this great gospel. And were introduced to the Word, and God, the Son and the Father. And the main thing we saw last week was that Jesus eternally God who created all things came to bring life and light to a dark world!

This week we are introduced to John the Baptist. One who would be a proclaimer of the light. One of my favorite people in all of scripture. John the Baptist had a clear purpose for his life. As we study this gospel and look at other gospels we will see that John the Baptist was a man sent by God to witness about the Lord Jesus Christ.

With that being said let us read our text for this morning. John 1:6-13 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

For those who are taking notes or following along in our bulletin I want you to notice the main point this morning and its this. John the Baptist was sent by God to proclaim about the light so all who believe in the light would have eternal life. x2

Lets break that down this morning.

John the Baptist came to witness.

The text says that John the Baptist was sent from God. Now John the Baptist was not some ordinary man, he came from two godly parents. Zechariah, and Elizebeth. The bible says that they were both righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments, and statues of the Lord, however these godly couple did not have a child to call there own. And the sad thing was they were in fact getting older, getting past the natural birthing age for people. They most likely believed that being a parent was not something they were going to be. However God changed that. He changed it in such a way that only God can.

In the gospel of Luke, the text tells us that an Angel came in the temple to tell Zechariah that he would in fact have a child with his wife. And this child would have major purpose for the kingdom of God. Listen to the words of Luke 1:13-17 “13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”” If you want to know more about this birth and the story with his parents check out the first chapter of Luke when you leave here today.

But John was a man who would be an incredible witness for God, and he had the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim about Jesus Christ.

And John came at time where the Lord had been mostly silent working more in the background than sending prophets proclaiming his word. It was believed that they had not had a prophet from God for some 400 years. But God was about to be silent no more. A witness was coming into the world to proclaim Christ. And that is what John was going to do.

His job was not to proclaim himself, but to proclaim Christ. Last week we learned the light was in fact Christ, and that is who John was to proclaim in order that people may believe. John was the messenger of the message. The message of this book is so that you may believe, and John came to proclaim so others could believe.

One man said, “The Purpose of his testimony was to produce faith in Jesus Christ as the savior of the world” He was to call people to make a decision about Christ. That is a testimony each and every one of us should have.

John’s testimony was so powerful yet he was not the light, he pointed others to the light. Because of his testimony many began to follow him.In the book of Acts years after his death you see that he had followers of him, and not just Christ.

But as One main said, He was not the light, but it was necessary that he bear witness to the light.

This is a reminder that you may draw followers for yourself, but your job as a believer is to point people to Jesus. This should be a big thing for this church we dont want to attract people to us just so we can be bigger so we can more influence we want people to come so we collectively can point people to Jesus.

Our jobs as christians are to be like John where we are so filled with the Holy Spirit that others want to know why this is the case, and then we tell them, we are here to witness about Christ. To proclaim his light, so that others might believe through us.

John was a forerunner- which is a person that precedes the coming of someone. He was telling people about the kingdom to come.

We as believers are to ambassadors for Christ. 2 Cor 5:20 “20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Johns message was as we will see several times in this book and throughout the gospel is Repent for kingdom of heaven is at hand. Ours is repent for the kingdom of heaven has come. We are called to be light, but the true light is Christ. Let us use our light that he gives us to proclaim about him.

John was made to tell about the good news so others could have the light of the world.

Jesus came to be the light

As we started discussing last week Jesus came to bring light. And his light was shown to all people. And his light showed us many things. I want to make note of one particular thing that his did, his light makes all people responsible for themselves. And as a result of that light people were without excuse.

An example of this is in Romans 1:20 “20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” And this light was coming into the world.

Jesus birth narrative is not in this gospel in a traditional sense we see that in Matthew and in Luke and those gospels tell us that Jesus Christ was born of the virgin, born just like you and I. That he came from a line of Jews dating back to Abraham.

He came into this world. A world as we discussed last week in more detail. that he himself created. Ill never get over that.

God coming into the flesh, and his own world rejected him. The creator of all things stepped out of heaven and into the world and his own creation did not even know him. Despite the incredible light that he showed over and over again his own people who he created denied him. Goes to show you the effect of sin, and how lost someone is without having the Holy Spirit come and open there hearts.

Isaiah describes these types of people. Isa 65:2-3 “2 I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; 3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks;”

Jeremiah says this as well.

Jer 7:24-26 “24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.”

I like what one man said, “Sin is not a series of bad choices, but a state of being from which bad choices continually come.” This is the problem with sin and its roots and the natural roots of sin never choose God. When we are not in Christ our sin manifests a rebellion that cannot be cured without the light coming and illuminating our own hearts.

Think about this church, The creator of all things, the true light was in very midst, but because of sinful darkened hearts they did not receive him. His own creation did not know him.

Today this is very much the case, the gospel light is still shining we learned that last week. This light that Jesus brought into the world did not go away when he left this earth its still shining to this very day, and yet people whom God created love darkness and do not love the light and there sin and there own depravity they wont choose to follow him. Despite the light that he is.

But there is good news even though so many did not follow him then and dont follow him now.

Those who believe in the light will be saved by God.

verse 12 starts with a transitional word and that is but. It says, But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. We just saw how many did not receive him, yet we see that many did receive him. They recieved him by believing in his name. By seeing that he was the light of the world, by believing that in him they could have eternal life. And the amazing thing about that is what he gives to his children when they believe, and that adoption.

Listen to this, To be a child of God, however, means to accept personally the incredible reality of the coming of the Logos into the human situation. Clearly to know and believe personally that the power of the universe is able to touch your life means that one can be adopted into the family of the Logos and become a child of God.”

Believers in Christ are adopted by God. I shared in our study of Galatians a song by third day children of God, hope you got to listen to it, if not listen, but as I studied this week I read an amazing adoption story, and we have one in our church if you ever want to talk to the Winslow's you will be blessed by that as well.

But listen to this story.

Shannon brown, a good friend of mine, found himself in China on Mother’s day, 2006. He and his wife were there to pick up the newest member of there family. A ten-month old girl who had been abandoned the day after she was born. A few months before they went overseas to meet her and bring her home, he had written about their decision to adopt.

“I think within a nanosecond of deciding to adopt we knew what our daughter’s name would be. In fact, I dont really ever recall discussing it that much. Perhaps it’s because of why we chose to adopt. Our driving motivation was to rescue a little girl and give her a family with hope for the future.

This helpless little girl who lives on the other side of the earth will receive all the benefits of being my child. I will clothe her and feed her. She will take my name and receive my deepest affection. She will be the object of my love. My energies will be directed towards helping, instructing and training her to be happy, with a secure knowledge that I will never leave her. I will pour my heart to introduce her to the Savior of the World who can take away all her sins and give her eternal security.

OF COURSE , all of this is done as we completely depend of God and his strength.

Where would we be without the love of God? Where would we be without him revealing himself to us in scripture? Where would we be without him divinely sacrificing his own Son and seeking us out to rescue us?

So for us, and what this adoption is a reflection of, we only had one name to choose from..... Grace.”

Grace is how we become a child of God. Powerful illustration on a real reality that happens when we are born again. From fatherless to having a father, and as a heir of God and a child of God I get all he has promised me as a believer.

But Notice what John said, who were born, not of blood, not of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man but of God.

And he says this to point out that Born again believers dont cause themselves to be born again, nothing we do outside of having faith in Christ can give us eternal life.

People are born again because of God, because of grace, YES we believe but we need God to show us that truth, and thankful he has for many of us by His Spirit.

John 3:6-8 “6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.””

Titus 3:5 “5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Those who are born of God are reborn because of God, and you can only be born again if you truly believe in God. By the power of his Spirit and by a true faith in him you can be born again. You can come to know the light, and have eternal life in him.

And folks if you have already done that I am sure you are going be like John the Baptist, proclaiming him, witnessing to other, because you have seen how good that light is, how bright it truly shines when you are born again. IF we are going to be a church that truly grows both inwardly and outwardly we are going to have to be a witness in the communities we live in, work in, and are in.

We are a church that is commited to evangelizing the lost world just like John lets go out and do, and you might ask I dont have training in this, I cant tell people about Jesus that is not true at all, because you can use something like this text today, and say, and plug yourself in it.

You can say, I, Luke list people in your congregation.. Have came to be a witness for the light who is Jesus, to say that he came into this dark to save those who are his, and you can be his if you repent and believe. You dont have to know all the lingo to tell someone about Jesus you just have to have the right heart, and the right witness.

You have been given eternal life to tell others about Jesus. So what is stoping you?

Church family if you really believe this message you are going to be a witness for him, because like the story of Adoption we have been adopted by God, and that is good news how can we not tell others about him? When we love something so much you want to tell others, John loved Christ dont you? If so proclaim him. Be sent by God to proclaim about the light so others who believe in the light can have eternal life. x2

If you dont know him today I would say that you are without excuse and I would to tell you more about him, if you need prayer, want to know more about joining this church, baptism or anything else respond this morning. LET US BE A CHURCH THAT RESPONDS.

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